Fable: The Highwayman
by John Lander
Summary: Is there another hero in the making?
1. The Highwayman of Brightwood

It rained heavily across Albion; in the forests of Brightwood two merchant traders made their way through the forest poorly armed with rusty flintlock rifles.

"I don't like this," one of the merchants said.

"Oh stop it," the other one replied, "You've done nothing but worry since we entered the woods"

"But you know what the guardsmen said in Bowerstone; Bandits and Highwaymen are around these parts,"

"Yer but its unlikely any of them will take us," the other merchant stated while loading his rifle.

Walking down the path with tress either side of them the worried merchant continually looked around to make sure no one was following them.

"Will you relax?"

"I would but I keep thinking about it,"

"Well talk to me about something; take your mind off it,"

Thinking for a few moments the worried merchant asked, ""If we don't run into Bandits or Highwaymen…do you think **he **will appear?"

"Who?"

"You know who,"

"For Avo's sake!" the other merchant hissed, "The Highwayman of Brightwood is just a myth!"

"But he's real; one of the merchants we met in Bowerstone told me he saw him,"

"Which one would that be? The blind one or the incredibly drunk one?"

"I'm telling ya he's real,"

While the two merchants a group of bandits were slowly following them through the woods on either side of the road.

"Anyway even if he was real he's just one man,"

"Well I heard he can shoot over six hundred yards and run faster than a horse,"

"That's just a load of Gypsy talk to scare travellers,"

The bandits then ran ahead of merchants and waited until the merchants got to the end of the road. Once they got to the end the bandits jumped out with their guns pointed towards them and their swords drawn. The Merchants had their rifles pointed towards them but they were outnumbered so they didn't bother firing. The bandits then overpowered them and took their weapons off them and pushed them to the ground, "Give us your money and we'll let you live"

"I told you we'd get caught"

"Shut up!"

"Give us your money!"

While the bandits were surrounded the merchants' one of them looked to the end of the road to see a tall, mysterious figure wearing a black coat with the collar covering the lover have of his face and a hat over the top and the only part of his face that could be seen were his eyes. The bandits alerted the others, "Hey guys!"

A few of the other bandits looked down the road to see who was there so mostly all of them apart from one that was left behind to guard the merchants went half way down the road to where the stranger was to confront him.

"Oi Highwayman," the lead bandit hissed, "This is our catch so get lost!"

The stranger just stood looking at them and in the blink of an eye he pulled out a steel flintlock and with one shot he sent a bullet straight between the lead bandit's eyes. After the body fell to the ground the bandits pulled out their sword and charged towards the stranger. Putting his gun away the stranger pulled out a master cutlass sword and walked towards them with no sign of worry or fear in his eyes. When the first bandit ran up to him the bandit tried to swing his sword down on him but the stranger defended himself then when he forces the bandit's sword away he punched in sword into the bandit's chest. The second bandit was running towards him but just in time the stranger pulled out his gun, reloaded and shot the bandit before he had time to attack. The stranger now with sword in one hand and gun in the other the strange highwayman continued to fight with both a gun and sword; running them through with his sword and shooting them without stopping. The flashes from gun fire and the clash of swords were so fast it was like a light show in the rain. Another bandit ran at the highwayman and was about to cut him in half but using his quick reflexes the highwayman dodged the bandit's attack and shot him in the back of the head. One by one the bandits fell until all of them lay dead on the road while the rain water and mud mixed with the blood that leaked from their wounds. The highwayman stood triumphant as he looked down on the bodies he put away his weapons and turned towards the merchants where the last remaining bandit stood over them. Dropping his weapons in fear the bandits turned around and ran down the road leading to Bower Lake as fast as he could run.

With the road being a straight line the highwayman saw this as an easy show; he took out his pistol and aimed at the fleeing bandit.

"That shot's impossible," the merchant said as he looked at the highwayman taking aim and the bandit running away.

Looking down the barrel of the gun the highwayman focused hard and as he used the one eye for aiming it glowed a faint yellow colour. Seeing everything that had happened the worried merchant realised something about the highway man but before he could say or do anything the highwayman fired. The bullet travelled faster than the speed of sound down the road and in a matter of seconds the bullet entered the back of the bandit's head. The moment the body fell to the ground the two merchants looked to one and other, "You know what this means!"

"We've just been saved?"

"Yer by…"

A gun reloading interrupted the two's conversation. They looked up to see the highwayman pointing the gun towards them, "Empty your pockets"

Slowly getting up from the ground the merchants looked towards the highway man and one of them spoke a question that had been on his mind during the entire fight "You're the Highwayman of Brightwood aren't you?"

The stranger looked at them for a moment, "I operate outside of the Highwayman's guild if that's what you're asking?"

Looking towards the other merchant he replied, "I told you he was real!"

"Empty your pockets!"

The merchants were about to reach into their pockets and hand over all the gold they had the merchant that ask the question before asked another one, "Are you a hero?"

Lowering the gun slightly the highwayman replied, "What…no I'm a Highwayman!"

"No I mean a hero," the merchant corrected, "You know; like the ones from the old stories. I think since you can run so fast and see so far that you're a hero of skill if I'm correct?"

There was a silence between the three before the highwayman lowered his gun, "Even if I was…what difference would it make?"

"You're a hero!" the merchant hissed, "You should be out there saving lives, fighting bandits not robbing traders like us!"

The highwayman raised his gun back towards the merchants, "Maybe you should have thought about that before you killed us all!"

Pulling the trigger on his gun the highwayman shot one merchant before pointing his gun at the next one but before he fired the gun he said, "Even if I did help people…what would be in it for me?"

The highwayman then pulled the trigger and shot a bullet into the merchant's head. With both of them dead the he searched the bodies and managed to find nearly three hundred gold coins on both bodies. Now fully satisfied and his pockets filled with gold the highwayman now feeling fulfilled he put his gun away and disappeared into the woods while the rain continued to pour down across the land.


	2. Memories

Walking down a path deep in the woods the Highwayman of Brightwood carried both a huge sack of gold and a blood stained sword. Showing no emotion through his eyes he approached a road leading through the remains of what used to be a garden. Hearing the burned grass crunch underneath his boots annoyed him but it was not unbearable. Approaching the remains of a burned down house the Highwayman went around the back and stopped when he came to a pair of cellar doors. Getting out an iron key he stuck it into the lock and twisted the key before opening them. Slowly walking down the stairs that lead to a huge underground chamber he pushed open a door and on the other side a bright light reflected from the mountain of stolen gold he emptied out the sack on top of the pile. Leaving the room the Highwayman walked across to the other end of the chamber to another door he opened and inside on the walls and tables were hundreds of different pistols and rifles while the swords were lined up on a smiting table in the corner of the room. Putting his sword with the others and leaving resting his gun on an empty slot on the wall the Highwayman left the room he went to the centre of the chamber where he sat at a desk to rest. Closing his eyes he remembered a different time when the house above wasn't burnt down, a married couple lived and were trying for a family. He also remembered the day the man caught his wife in bed with another man; his rage was uncontrollable so he killed the other man but unable to kill his wife he tied her to the bed then set the house on fire.

"She got what she deserved," the Highwayman said to himself.

Opening a draw in his desk he took out a glass and a bottle of red wine to have a drink which would wash away the memories.


End file.
